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Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

cbc.ca

251–260 of 342 posts

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#251

Anti weed people made a lot of noise when CO and WA legalized retail sales 4 years ago, as if it would cause mass chaos, but really nothing much has changed in those states. Law enforcement have much bigger problems to deal with like a fentanyl epidemic, and Seattle's rapidly growing homeless population and property crime problem.

> but really nothing much has changed in those states the cash-only nature of the businesses (because of ongoing federal restrictions on banking for people engaged in activity the feds consider illegal) caused an ecosystem for cash handling to spring up along the front range in colorado. that made it a somewhat more fertile area for organized crime, and so the cartels are more active than they were. and they can't se…

> (beats me if the news has covered this, go talk to some denver cops or something.)

So, no sources then? I'd love to see them, all the same. :)

I've actually talked to DPD a bit. Legalization hasn't led to the heroin/opiate epidemic increasing, at least as far as I can tell.

In talking to doctors at the VA, though, what has gone up is severe head injuries. It's a total mystery as to why, but it seems that legalization is associated with head trauma. They'd love to research it more and publish on it, but as a schedule 1 drug, they can't.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can deny entry for pretty much any reason. You are correct that the US border policy with Canada doesn't make any sense.

I don't see a single reason why you can be forced to incriminate yourself. If confession equals conviction, laws about right to remain silent should also apply. I would happily say "no" and smile if I was you when asked about what you did in a different country that they have no business knowing.

You have very few rights at a border. Almost any border, not just the US. A border is very much like a no-man's land where the law of the country you are entering or leaving is suspended. You can be held, searched without cause, refused entry at a guard's discretion (no reason is needed), and so on. Arguing your 'rights' at a border is one very good way to be seen as cause to get secondary screening and perhaps refusal of entry. And they are pretty good at detecting if you are lying - lots and lots of training there, you'd be surprised how easily unprepared people give themselves away in even the most simple lies.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been sent to the back of the queue to tick boxes on forms correctly by U.S. customs/border jobsworths and wondered why the experience has to be so patronisingly humiliating. Once on a connecting flight so I wasn't even wanting to leave the airport. At the time I was working for a highly regarded company and going on to do some work for CBC in Toronto. I had flown in on business class and my smile, polite Briti…

As a US citizen, I can honestly say that I have never experienced more unprofessional, rude, and outright hostile border control experiences than some of the ones I've experienced when reentering the US, and I doubt they treat non-citizens any better. Unfortunately in the US, the customs and border control people often seem to be the rejects who can't get a job anywhere else and relish lording their power over you.

> As a US citizen, I can honestly say that I have never experienced more unprofessional, rude, and outright hostile border control experiences than some of the ones I've experienced when reentering the US

Everyone in the world says this about their own border agents! People always seem to be most critical of their own.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pilots aren't in short supply. Pilots willing to accrue $40k in dept for the necessary education to then get paid $25k a year are very much in short supply. Many regional pilots are on food stamps. This is the reason I currently write software instead of flying commercial airplanes.

Shouldn't wages increase with demand? Why aren't they?

If only the market was as simple as this. The reason as with many things lies with the fact that when an industry has a small number of large employers, they can conspire to cap wages fairly easily without ever actually speaking to each other, and indeed it probably happens without any illegal conspiracy, just them banking on each other to not undercut.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#255

Canada is leading in personal freedoms and new markets with this move, ending cannabis prohibition that is long overdue and a step in ending the drug wars. The policy change regarding viewing drugs not as criminal but decriminalized and a health issue where needed, is the safer thing to do in a regulated market that will improve safety for recreational use and harm reduction. The War on Drugs started as an attack on…

>Canada is leading in personal freedoms and new markets with this move, ending cannabis prohibition that is long overdue and a step in ending the drug wars. To an extent, yes. With regard to those new markets, though, most provinces are taking the monopoly route. So while production will be in private hands, distribution and in some cases even retail will be done by provincial government monopolies. To illustrate how…

Also because every city gets to set their own consumption bylaws, many people who rent have nowhere to legally smoke it. eg: Calgary - public smoking is banned. You're allowed to smoke it in your own house. Except most rental companies have banned smoking on rental property (inside or outside). So the only way to smoke legally could get you evicted.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't all these (once?) illegal growers sellers just do so legally now? Not talking about someone who buys an ounce and sells 3/4 so they get a 1/4 for free, but those doing it as a business, making good money. About 15 years ago used to grow and sell in the UK, nothing too major, about 1 to 2kg a month would get cropped every month of the year. If the option presented itself to pay tax on the profit in order to remo…

They don't just tax the profit, do they? If they tax the sale price, it's pretty easy for the taxes to exceed your profit margin.

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Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which would be around 1.5 to 2 times the street price depending on what deals you had before legalization.¹ It is however on par with what medical pricing was. ¹According to what I have heard around. I have never purchased it from the street.

Not really, maybe if bought in bulk. 5$ for 1g seems pretty competitive with black market.

Most users I know are heavy users (both recreational and medical) and buy once monthly. So that has to be bulk pricing. AFAIK, the government store doesn't offer bulk discounts.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada does not have felonies or misdemeanors. You are either in violation of the criminal code, or you aren't.

We have summary and indictable offences. A summary offence is more or less a misdemeanor, an indictable offence is basically a felony.

Yes, but the terminology and implications are different.

You can have a criminal conviction and still vote, for example.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What markets? Canada can only sell to itself. California has a larger population than Canada does.

Canada sells a _significant_ amount to the US for medical purposes and legal sales.

It also exports an extraordinary amount illegally, so there's that too.

For a while the #3 cash crop in BC, after fishing and logging, was weed. That can't all be for domestic consumption.

Re: Cannabis is legal in Canada: What you need to know

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people currently use illicit mail order services, which puts it pretty much at the same level of convenience as government run online shops at the moment.

Fair enough, much different situation than the U. S., I guess. I'll admit to be being pretty surprised that the government's solution to not having brick-and-mortars up and running was, "well, would it be okay if we just mailed it to you?" Umm...hell, yeah?

It wasn't a surprise to me.

All medical cannabis in Canada has been shipped via Canada Post for almost two decades, and the same set of producers are handling recreational supplies. Extending this to recreational seems like a straightforward way to get things started.

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